Uh-oh

31/10/2010

Here we go again. Apple were sued by Cisco after announcing the iPhone knowing full well the telecoms giant already had a product by that name. They struck a deal. Then Apple reportedly considered calling the new Apple TV iTV, only to face the risk of a lawsuit from the UK TV channel.

But it may have already infringed another copyright without realising. A Taiwanese company, Proview, is threatening to sue Apple, claiming that they registered the name 'I-Pad' in 2000 for a tablet they never launched. They reckon they're owed $1.5 billion!

But it all sounds a bit iffy - Proview admits it's in tricky times financially, and this looks a lot like a desperate move. 'we are in big financial trouble and the trademarks are a valuable asset that could help us sort out part of that trouble,'chairman Yong Rongshan cheerfully explains.

We reckon this one might not get very far. But if it does, with over fifty billion dollars of cash reserves, Apple ought to be able to sort it out without too much trouble.